As noted on the Bethesda Blog, the first patch for Fallout: New Vegas is now available automatically through Steam, where word is: "This update fixes quest and scripting issues." They say they are working on getting the console versions of Obsidian's RPG sequel patched as soon as possible, and also announce that the issue with PlayStation 3 digital preorder bonuses is now resolved.

The tone, characterizaton, pacing and quest variety is more like Fallout 2. Fallout 3 had very bland characters with boring quests that the player couldn't give less than a shit about for the most part. Where Fallout 3 excelled was the reward for exploration, there was shit everywhere and a lot of it had very vague backstory but you could sort of fill in there.

You guys probably aren't very far if all you're seeing is outposts so just stick with it, at least until Novac. Things start to pick up there.